How to Get Featured in Business Insider in 2026
How to get into Business Insider as a contributor or source, what its own guidelines rule out, and what the Machine Relations Index shows about where AI engines cite it.
Business Insider takes outside stories through two doors, contributor essays and freelance pitches, and it says in its own guidelines that it does not publish sponsored or promotional posts. Both doors reward a specific, original story from someone with something to say, and Business Insider describes no paid route to either. This guide covers how each works, what Business Insider's own writer pages ask for, and what the Machine Relations Index profile for businessinsider.com shows about where AI engines cite it.
Key takeaways
- Business Insider's writer guide names two routes: contributors, often executives, investors, professors and other experts offering analysis and commentary, and freelance writers pitching first-person stories, reported profiles, trend stories and explainers. Both must be exclusive to Business Insider.
- The same guide says Business Insider does not accept promotional or sponsored posts and that any conflict of interest must be disclosed. A pitch that is an announcement of your product is outside what it asks for.
- On the October 24, 2026 Index release, AI engines cited businessinsider.com in 181 of 30,766 monitored answer runs (0.59%), #13 of 1,115 classified editorial publications. forbes.com was cited in 1,126 runs on the same release.
- Where it is cited depends on the engine and the question. ChatGPT cited it in 2 of 7,045 runs; Perplexity in 115 of 7,158. By category, 62 of the 181 runs were consumer products questions, and 17 were across five B2B technology categories.
- A placement here is a credibility and reach decision first. The Index counts which domains engines cite; it does not show that a placement of yours would be cited.
How Business Insider takes outside stories
Business Insider publishes a How to Write for Business Insider page, read on October 24, 2026. It describes two routes and lists an editor to contact for each, so read the live page for current names, because people move.
1. Contributor essays
The guide says Business Insider accepts story pitches from outside contributors that fit the areas it covers, and that it is looking for unique, thoughtful analysis, engaging commentary and authoritative advice. It says its contributors are often high-profile experts, among them C-suite executives, former executives, professors, investors, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, attorneys, consultants and authors. Contributor articles must be original and exclusive to Business Insider.
This is the route where a founder or executive is the writer. The test is whether you have a view and evidence a reader cannot get elsewhere, not whether your company has news.
2. Freelance pitches
The same page says Business Insider welcomes first-person stories, told as personal essays or as-told-to pieces, along with reported profiles, trend stories, visual features, experientials and explainers. Its stated areas include work, career, ambition, burnout, productivity, money and relationships, and the page lists separate editors for careers, small business and entrepreneurship, and for AI, tech, economy and healthcare. A separate Life team guide covers lifestyle, travel, parenting and health.
The page's own advice for deciding what to pitch is short: read the site, get a feel for the stories it runs, do not pitch stories it has already written, be creative, and use a Business Insider style headline in the subject line of your email. Freelance rates are agreed with the editor after a pitch is accepted.
What the guidelines rule out
- Sponsored or promotional posts. The writer guide says Business Insider does not accept them, and the Life team guide says it does not publish sponsored content.
- Non-exclusive pitches. Contributor and freelance pieces must be exclusive to Business Insider.
- Unverified claims. Writers sign a contract once an assignment is accepted, and Business Insider says it requires tangible proof, such as documents, records, screenshots and emails, to verify identities, employment information, financial details and other facts.
- Control of the headline. The guide says Business Insider makes all final decisions around headlines.
For a company, that means a Business Insider byline or feature is an editor's decision about a story, so the working questions are whether you have a reportable story with documents behind it, and whether the writer, you or someone else, can put a reader first.
A press release is a different product
Wire press releases do appear on Business Insider's Markets Insider site at markets.businessinsider.com, labeled PRESS RELEASE with the wire's name, for example GlobeNewswire items in search results read October 24, 2026. EZ Newswire, a paid distribution service, lists Business Insider among the destinations of its Premium package at $1,500 per release on its pricing page, read October 24, 2026; check the page before buying. That is paid distribution of your own announcement. It is not an editor choosing your story, and the Index counts cited domains, not which kind of page on a domain was cited.
Build a pitch an editor can say yes to
Business Insider's guidance is about fit, so the work is preparation.
- Choose the desk by the story. Match the idea to the topic the guide lists for an editor. A funding announcement and a first-person lesson from a failed product launch belong to different readers.
- Lead with the angle and the evidence. A subject line that reads like a Business Insider headline, followed by two or three specific facts the editor can check, such as revenue, dates, documents or a named source who will confirm it.
- Say why now. Tie the story to something readers are already weighing, and say what they can take from it.
- Offer access. Name who can be interviewed and what documents you can provide, because the guide says facts are checked against proof.
- Keep it exclusive and unpromotional. Offer it to Business Insider alone, disclose any conflict of interest, and leave the product pitch out of the story.
Where AI engines cite Business Insider: the Machine Relations Index reading
The Machine Relations Index records which domains AI engines cite when they answer a fixed set of buying and research questions. On release mri_score_v2.1+2026-10-24+e479e9b12312, window May 10 to October 24, 2026, engines cited businessinsider.com in 181 of 30,766 monitored answer runs, a 0.59% citation rate, #13 of 1,115 classified editorial publications. On the same release, forbes.com was cited in 1,126 runs (#1), techcrunch.com in 174, fortune.com in 130 and wsj.com in 121.
| Engine | Runs citing businessinsider.com | Runs observed |
|---|---|---|
| Perplexity | 115 | 7,158 |
| Gemini | 33 | 6,447 |
| Google AI Mode | 24 | 1,866 |
| Google AI Overviews | 7 | 1,172 |
| ChatGPT | 2 | 7,045 |
| Claude | 0 | 7,078 |
Method note. The Claude row is the absence of any Claude citation in the Index record for the domain businessinsider.com on this release; the 7,078 is the number of Claude runs the release observed across all domains. Re-query it in the public Index release or on the domain profile; the figures change with each release, so check the release id first.
The citations cluster in particular kinds of question:
| Question group on the Index | Runs citing businessinsider.com | Runs observed |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer products | 62 | 1,251 |
| Consumer finance | 32 | 1,470 |
| Older questions not mapped to a category | 33 | 2,066 |
| Healthcare services | 10 | 770 |
| Five B2B technology categories: martech and advertising, AI visibility and GEO, cybersecurity, enterprise software, AI security and privacy | 17 | 3,437 |
Consumer products questions cited it in 5.0% of runs; the five B2B technology categories together cited it in 0.5%. In AI visibility and GEO, the category closest to AuthorityTech's buyers, businessinsider.com was cited in 5 of 1,215 runs. The Index measures domains in a fixed question set, so this describes where engines drew on Business Insider in these runs. It does not say why, and it does not say that coverage of your company would be cited when a buyer asks about your category.
What this means for a B2B team
Business Insider's reach is real, and the Index shows engines do cite it, but in these runs 127 of its 181 citations came from consumer products, consumer finance and older questions not mapped to a category, and 146 of 181 came from Perplexity, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews. For a B2B software or services company, the decision to pursue Business Insider should rest on its readers, the credibility of a byline there, and whether you have a story its editors want. It should not rest on an assumption that a placement will be cited when a buyer asks an engine to shortlist vendors.
If the aim is to show up in AI answers for your category, check the Index for the sources engines cite for that category's questions, and read the editorial requirements of those publications the same way you read this one. The Index publishes the domain record for each.
Machine Relations is the discipline of earning AI citations and recommendations for a brand by making that brand legible, retrievable and credible inside AI-driven discovery. Jaxon Parrott coined it in 2024; it is open to anyone. AuthorityTech is The World's First Machine Relations Agency. The Index is published by Machine Relations Research, and none of its figures here is an AuthorityTech campaign result.
Frequently asked questions
How do you get featured in Business Insider?
Business Insider's writer guide lists two routes. Contributors offer analysis, commentary or advice, and are often executives, investors, professors or other experts. Freelance writers pitch first-person stories, reported profiles, trend stories and explainers to the editor for the topic. Both must be exclusive to Business Insider, and Business Insider says it does not accept promotional or sponsored posts.
Can you pay to be featured in Business Insider?
Business Insider's writer guidelines say it does not accept promotional or sponsored posts, so it describes no paid route to editorial coverage. Wire press releases appear on its Markets Insider site labeled as press releases, and paid distribution services list Business Insider among their destinations. That is distribution of your announcement, not an editor's decision to cover you.
Does Business Insider coverage show up in AI search results?
Sometimes. On the October 24, 2026 Machine Relations Index release, engines cited businessinsider.com in 181 of 30,766 monitored runs (0.59%). Perplexity cited it in 115 of 7,158 runs and ChatGPT in 2 of 7,045. 62 of the 181 citing runs were consumer products questions, 32 were consumer finance and 33 were older questions not mapped to a category. Whether coverage of a given company is cited depends on the question asked.
Is Business Insider cited more than Forbes?
No. On the same release, forbes.com was cited in 1,126 runs and businessinsider.com in 181. The Index counts cited domains, not the value of a placement to a reader.
Does Business Insider coverage help B2B companies get recommended by AI?
The Index does not show that. In five B2B technology categories, businessinsider.com was cited in 17 of 3,437 runs. A placement can still matter for credibility with readers, investors and customers.
Where do the numbers come from?
From the public Machine Relations Index, release mri_score_v2.1+2026-10-24+e479e9b12312. Quote the release id with any figure.